Banners are used by many organizations and municipalities to advertise various events or as general decorations throughout the year and during festivals or the like. The banners are generally supported from light poles, standards, or other similar structures by brackets with integral rods wherein the banner may be easily seen but still be out of reach of the public.
Because of the nature of banners, as opposed to flags, it is necessary to hold both longitudinal ends of the banner such that the banner is kept taut. Usually, each end of the banner includes a pocket or similar elongated opening therein into which is received a support rod. The pocket and rod generally extend the entire length of the banner at the particular longitudinal end of the banner.
Heretofore, various brackets have been developed for holding banners taut. Of these, some brackets have been developed to specifically address and withstand the various wind loads that banners are subjected to due to the fact that they are held taut like a sail and cannot flap and wave to release the wind energy, in contrast to a flag. Other banner brackets have been designed to maintain the banner taut by incorporating a fixed angle into a fixed rod holder.
However, the prior art banner brackets are only capable of supporting banners that are essentially rectangular in shape. The banners therefore have longitudinal ends that are essentially perpendicular to the post onto which the bracket is mounted. Thus, such prior art banner brackets will support only one banner configuration, i.e. the rectangular banner, whereas there are many other possible and more appealing configurations.
Furthermore, such prior art banner brackets that are vertically adjustable are cumbersome to vertically adjust in situations where there is a change in the longitudinal length of the banner, either through stretching of the banner during use or actual change thereof.
In view of the shortcomings of the prior art, it is thus an object of the present invention to provide a banner support bracket that is capable of supporting a variety of banner configurations.
It is further an object of the present invention to provide a banner support bracket that is easily vertically adjustable due to stretching of the banner during use, or in situations where the longitudinal dimension of the banner has changed.